


Best-Laid Mistakes

by Contrail



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Romance, Slow Burn, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8449633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Contrail/pseuds/Contrail
Summary: When a druken one-night stand results in Juvia becoming pregnant, she ends up turning to her boss, Silver Fullbuster, for help. He offers her his full support, even going so far as to try to adopt her. This turn of events doesn't sit well with his son Gray, though, for reasons known only to him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima, and is being used without permission. No profit is being made from this story.
> 
> This particular story was inspired by a plot idea someone sent to canyoudigitmotherlicker.tumblr.com anonymously, though I changed some of the details of the request.

After Juvia woke up that Sunday morning, it didn't take long for her to decide that doing so had been a very bad idea. Her eyelids felt like sandpaper every time she blinked, her head was pounding like some one was playing an enthusiastic game of whack-a-mole with it, the sunlight coming in through the room's curtains was stabbing her retinas, her mouth tasted like something had died in it, her stomach felt like it might decide to evacuate its contents at any minute, and probably the only reason she wasn't wincing at every loud sound was that there weren't any. 

As she looked around herself blearily, she noticed a tall glass of water and some painkillers on the nightstand next to her. Gratefully, she swallowed the pills and washed them down with a long gulp of water. She laid there, drinking the rest of the glass more slowly, until she only felt half-dead instead of fully dead. Once she started feeling a bit better, she became more aware of her situation. She wasn't in her own bedroom - instead, this seemed to be a room in some sort of motel. And she was completely naked beneath the sheets, when the only times she slept nude were, well… 

Juvia wracked her still barely functional brain, trying to remember how she'd ended up like this. One of her friends, Cana, had coaxed her to go out drinking last night, saying that she'd been moping for long enough over breaking up with her last boyfriend. She couldn't keep a frown from her lips at the thought of him. Her relationship with Bora had lasted for nearly a year, until she'd walked in on him two months ago, screwing another girl in their bed. Juvia had demanded to know how many other girls he'd slept with while dating her, when any time she'd been jealous of other girls hanging around him he'd told her that she was the only one for him. He'd coolly retorted that it was _her_ fault that he'd had to look elsewhere, that she'd been too clingy and too gloomy, not willing enough to go out and have fun with him. 

She'd started to protest that she had to work, she couldn't go out every night, but he'd cut her off, telling her that he just couldn't take this anymore, that they were through. Stunned, she'd just stood there, tears starting to leak out of her eyes, as he told her that he was taking the other girl home, and that she and her things should be gone from _his_ apartment by the time he got back. She'd managed to call her friend Gajeel to come and get her with his truck before breaking down into heartbroken sobbing. Once Gajeel had shown up, he'd helped her pack her stuff up, muttering all the while about how he wished Bora was there so he could give him a piece of his mind. She'd been glad that they finished up and left before Bora got back, not wanting Gajeel to get into trouble for assaulting him. 

After that, she had avoided going out at all, feeling too discouraged to even think of dating again. She'd thought that maybe she'd found someone who would love and accept all of her with Bora, only to find out that he saw her the same way everyone else did in the end. But Cana had told her that she 'shouldn't let a bastard like that get her down' and that even if she didn't find anyone who'd love her like that, that didn't mean that she couldn't still have some fun. So she'd ended up going out with Cana, Lisanna, and Meredy, her closest female friends - they'd all become friends while they were in college, and had ended up moving to Magnolia together (well, moving back in Lisanna's case). 

To make sure they didn't run into Juvia's ex, they avoided their usual haunts and went to a club named Fairy Tail. Lisanna's older brother and sister worked there as a bouncer and bartender respectively, and they tended to be overprotective of her, which is why they hadn't gone there before. But Lisanna was willing to put up with their fussing for Juvia's sake - Bora had done something to get himself banned from the club, so they knew that he wouldn't be there. Over the course of the night, Cana had kept ordering refills of her drinks for her, 'to make sure that she would have fun', and after a while all she could remember of the previous night was a blur of light and noise. 

Sighing with the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to remember anything more right then, if ever, she began to get up off the bed, unable to keep from wincing as she started to move. Her leg muscles were sore from overexertion and there was a sticky residue on the insides of her thighs, clues enough to give her some idea of what had happened during the time she couldn't remember. Waking up in a motel room with no memory of a night of drunken sex wasn't something she was used to (that was more Cana's thing) but she supposed there was a first time for everything. 

Staggering her way to the bathroom, she started to comb out her hair before getting into the shower. A fleeting glance in the mirror made her pause and take a closer look at herself. Several hickeys stood out against the pale skin of her neck and breasts, and looking down she could see a few more dotting her inner thighs. She couldn't help blushing a bit at the visible evidence of a wild night. It was kind of a pity she couldn't remember anything about what had happened, because it seemed like she'd had the best - or at least most enthusiastic - sex of her life. 

Once she ensured that the water was hot enough, she stepped under the spray. The warmth that beat against her skin soothed her aching muscles and rejuvenated her to the point she almost felt human again. She wished she had the time to take a lengthy bath, but she didn't know what time the room was rented until, so she needed to get out as soon she could. After she finished her shower, she dried her hair enough that she wouldn't drip too much and wrapped a towel around herself. 

It took some searching, but she eventually found her clothes from last night, which had obviously been taken off in a hurry. One of the side seams of her underwear had ripped, though, and the hooks of her bra had been bent out of shape, rendering both of them useless. Sighing, she shoved the ruined articles of clothing into her purse before pulling on the dress she'd been wearing last night, a knit tube dress of alternating blue and black stripes. It showed off quite a bit of cleavage and only came down to mid-thigh, which made the idea of going commando under it less than thrilling, but she didn't exactly have a lot of choice in the matter. She didn't usually wear that kind of style, really, but Cana had insisted that she wear something 'sexy' when they went out. 

As she looked around the room to make sure she wasn't leaving anything important, she realized that whoever she'd slept with hadn't left any trace of their presence behind, with the possible exception of the water and painkillers. Juvia wasn't sure how she felt about that - it saved her the awkwardness of waking up in the arms of a total stranger, but at same time it meant she knew nothing about about the guy she'd slept with - not his name, not what he looked like, not _anything_. She guessed it was a clear sign that he didn't want it to be anything other than it had been - a one-night stand between two strangers. 

At the checkout counter, she asked if she needed to pay for the room, only to be assured that it had already been paid for and she just needed to turn in the keycards. That was a relief. Other than leaving her without a word, her mysterious lover seemed to be a decent person, if his making sure the room was paid and (probably) leaving her something to help deal with her hangover was any indication. 

Checking her location on her phone, she wasn't too far away from where she and her friends lived, but it was farther than she wanted to walk, particularly when she wasn't wearing any underwear. Figuring that Cana had probably already recovered from their night out (she had much more practice at it, after all), Juvia called her. Cana picked up after a couple of rings. "Hey. How was _your_ night, hmm?" she asked in a suggestive tone. 

Pouting even though Cana couldn't see her, she whined, "Cana, how could you let Juvia go off with some stranger like that?!" 

"Now, now, you can't tell me you didn't enjoy yourself. What better way to get over a break up than to drown your sorrows with alcohol and meaningless sex?" She could practically hear the smirk on Cana's face. 

"Juvia doesn't know if she enjoyed herself because she doesn't remember most of last night! What if she'd been taken by a rapist or a murderer or something?!" 

"Eh, really? I didn't think you'd drunk enough to be that far gone… Guess I forgot how much of a lightweight you are. Still, you seemed pretty happy the last time I saw you, dragging some guy to the dance floor. I'll try to keep a better eye on you next time, though." 

She sighed. She loved Cana dearly, but being responsible was not her strong suit. Cana thought everyone was as willing to do anything that seemed fun - and as able to take of themselves even while drunk - as she was. "There won't be a next time because Juvia is never drinking that much ever again." 

"Awwww, you're no fun." She was sure that Cana was the one pouting this time. 

"Anyway, Juvia woke up in a motel room this morning, and she would rather not walk home, so she was hoping that you would come get her." 

"Sure thing. What's the address?" Juvia rattled off the address, and Cana assured her that she'd be there as soon as she could before hanging up. Cana might not be the most responsible person, but she was always willing to help out if her friends needed her. 

Settling in to wait, Juvia hoped that she'd be on her way home soon, so she could just forget about the whole - somewhat embarrassing in her opinion - incident. 

It never occurred to her to wonder if they'd used protection that night or not. 

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Juvia slowly started to feel, well, just plain _off_. At first she just felt more tired than usual even though she was getting the same amount of sleep she usually did. Then certain foods, like coffee, that had never bothered her before started to make her feel nauseous. She didn't have to eat them - even just the sight or smell of them would make her feel ill. She initially thought it might just be food poisoning or some sort of flu, but as these symptoms lingered without any other signs of illness she began to get worried. 

The nail in the coffin appeared when she missed her period - she was pretty regular, so for it to be late by more than a couple of days was weird. And while she thought she'd gotten her period the time before, it _had_ been unusually light and short… But she couldn't be pregnant, could she? It had been months since she'd broken up with Bora… And then it hit her. Since she couldn't remember anything about what happened during her drunken one-night stand, she had no idea if they'd used any sort of protection, and she wasn't on the pill because her last boyfriend had always insisted on using condoms anyway. 

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Juvia drove to the nearest grocery store to purchase a pregnancy test. After a few minutes of looking over her options (who knew that there were so many different brands of pregnancy tests?!) she picked out two that sounded good, figuring that one might end up being wrong so having a back up would be a good idea. Once she returned to her apartment, she headed straight to the bathroom. She read over the instructions a couple of times to make sure she understood them, then took the tests. 

The minutes she had to wait for the results were nerve-wracking. She found herself wandering around the apartment, straightening things that didn't really need to be straightened, just to have something to keep herself busy. It felt like she'd checked the clock a million times before the necessary three minutes had elapsed. With shaking hands, she picked up the first test and looked at the result. 

Positive. 

But maybe it was wrong? So she set that one down and reached for the second one. 

Also positive. 

Meaning she was almost certainly pregnant. What was she going to do now? 

That question haunted her for the next few days, even through getting an appointment with a gynecologist and verifying that she was indeed pregnant. After the appointment was over, she made her way to work while in a daze. She only came back to herself when her boss rested a hand on her shoulder and leaned in to get a good look at her face. "Is something wrong, Juvia?" he ask, voice laced with concern. "You've been out of it lately." 

Juvia worked as a secretary for Fullbuster Heating & Cooling, since jobs that actually used her degree in Marine Biology were unfortunately hard to come by in Magnolia. The owner - her boss - Silver Fullbuster was a kind and often genial man. He had seemed to take a liking to her in particular, often teasing her about what a great daughter-in-law she'd make and offering to set her up with his son, which always made her blush and shake her head. 

Maybe that was the reason she trusted him enough to confide her worries, or maybe she had just kept them to herself for too long, but she slowly nodded as she said, "There is…" He waited patiently as she took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing. "Juvia… Juvia's pregnant." 

Silver's eyebrows rose. "Pregnant?" he asked, puzzled. "Didn't you break up with your boyfriend months ago? Unless…" His expression was rapidly darkening, and she could guess what path his thoughts had wandered down. 

She quickly shook her head no. "Nothing like that happened. Juvia just did something foolish, that's all." She looked down, embarrassed, and started fiddling with her fingers in her lap. "Some friends talked Juvia into going out, to try to forget about what happened with her ex, and she ended up getting really drunk and sleeping with someone. Since she can't even remember much of what happened, she obviously didn't have the presence of mind to make sure protection was used, so…" 

When she looked back up at Silver, wondering what his reaction was going to be, he simply gave her a sympathetic nod and asked, "What are you going to do now?" 

Wiping at the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, she met his gaze with her own and told him honestly, "Juvia… Juvia doesn't know yet. She doesn't want to get rid of the child growing within her, even if it only exists because she made a mistake, but she doesn't know if she can manage to raise a child all on her own. She knows her friends will help as much as they can, but they have their own lives to worry about, and Juvia doesn't have any family to rely on either…" 

He looked at her solemnly for a few moments, then an idea seemed to come to him, prompting to place another hand on her shoulders. "This isn't the way I wanted this to happen, but I've always said I wanted you to become a Fullbuster someday, right?" She nodded, prompting him to continue. "How would you feel about me adopting you as my daughter?" 

She blinked at him, eyes widening. "You… You want to adopt Juvia?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper. 

Silver gave her a small grin. "Yeah. Well, I would've preferred you becoming a part of the family by marrying my idiot son, but that doesn't seem likely to happen now, so… If I adopt you, there'll be someone to take care of the kid if anything happens to you, and it'll be easier for me to visit you in the hospital and such. So, what d'ya say?" 

Juvia could feel tears starting to trickle down her face. She'd spent so many years in an orphanage, hoping that someone would want to take her with them, to become part of their family, to be loved and love in return… But no one had ever wanted her. Yet, now, finally, someone was telling her that they wanted to take care of her, for her to be part of their family. Overcome with emotion, she wrapped her arms around her boss' waist and buried her head against his chest. "Juvia would love to," she managed to choke out. 

Though momentarily startled, it wasn't long until Silver wrapped his own arms around her, one hand stroking her hair while the other stroked her back. "Then welcome to the family, kid." 

She couldn't help smiling through her tears. "Thank you, sir." 

He chuckled, shaking his head at her. "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Silver? Though I guess it should be Dad now, instead." 

"Then, thank you, Father." 

"I guess that's close enough."


	2. Chapter 2

Having dinner at his dad's house isn't how Gray Fullbuster would usually choose to spend his Friday night, but he didn't feel like he could deny his dad's request for him to be there. Still, he would've been more comfortable with the prospect if it was just his dad he was going to be sharing a table with. But a couple of days before, his dad had surprised him with the news that he was adopting someone, and that he'd like Gray to met the woman who was to become his sister, at least legally.

Gray wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of suddenly having a new family member. His dad had told him about his secretary's situation, how she'd gotten pregnant accidentally and didn't have a lot in the way of support. His dad obviously had a soft spot for the young woman - he'd often talked her up to Gray - and he could sympathize with his dad's desire to help her out, but he didn't understand why his dad couldn't just give her financial and emotional support without going so far as to legally adopt her. It had always just been him, his mom, and his dad, and then just him and his dad after… He just wasn't comfortable with the idea of that changing after all these years.

Anyway, that was the reason he was stuck twiddling his thumbs in his dad's living room waiting for their guest to arrive. He'd gotten kicked out of the kitchen earlier by his dad, something about being more of a hindrance than a help. It was almost seven, so she should be arriving any minute.

As if summoned by his thoughts, there was a knock at the door, which sounded a little hesitant. Moving to the front door, he pulled it open and got his first good look at his dad's secretary. What he saw there froze him in his tracks, trapping the greeting he'd been about to give her in his throat. Familiar pale blue waves of hair draped over her shoulders, and she was wearing a dark blue dress with long sleeves and a full knee length skirt, much more demure than what she'd been wearing the first time he'd met her. There were simple flats on her feet, and pale tights protected her legs from the chill of a late October night. He could remember what the pale skin hidden under those tights had felt like under his hands, though, when her lovely legs had been wrapped around his hips as he'd thrust into her with wild abandon.

Finally focusing his shocked gaze on her face, he traced her too-familiar features, lingering briefly on her sweet mouth that he'd enjoyed kissing, before meeting her tilted, cat-like eyes. Instead of the recognition he had expected, confusion was what he found in the depths of her ocean blue eyes. "…Has Juvia met you before? You seem familiar…" she asked uncertainly.

After taking a moment to regain at least an outward appearance of calm, Gray replied, "I think I would remember if I'd met someone like you before." That wasn't technically a lie - he _had_ met her before and he _did_ remember her - but he knew she probably would take it to mean they hadn't met. "Maybe I just remind you of my dad?"

She nodded, though she still had a thoughtful frown on her face. "Perhaps, the two of you do resemble each other a lot."

"Anyway, I'm Gray," he introduced himself, offering a hand to shake and hoping to get off that subject quickly. "And your name's Juvia, right?"

"That's right. Juvia is very pleased to meet you finally," she answered, shaking his hand briefly and giving him a small smile. "Your father speaks of you often."

Gray rolled his eyes. "All complaints, I'm sure." Ignoring her attempt to explain that his dad often said good things about him - he hadn't seriously thought that his dad didn't - he motioned her inside. "Dinner should be ready in a couple of minutes, so just take a seat at the table. I'll join you there shortly." After pointing her in the right direction, he took a deep breath before heading to the bathroom at the quickest pace that wouldn't seem suspicious.

After Gray closed the bathroom door behind him, he leaned forward and gripped the edge of the sink, trying to ground himself with the sensation of cool porcelain under his hands. Fuck. _Fuck._ **Fuck.** His dad's secretary, that he wanted to adopt because she was single, had no family, and was pregnant, was the same girl he'd slept with while they were both drunk a couple of months back. Which, from what his dad had told him of Juvia's situation, meant that the kid growing inside her was almost certainly _his_. It was just his luck that, the one time he was drunk enough to forget to use protection, he managed to get someone pregnant.

At least he hadn't been so drunk he didn't remember what had happened, which was apparently the case for the other participant in that night of drunken sex. He'd acted on impulse when he'd denied having met Juvia before, not wanting the evening to become a clusterfuck of drama before they even had dinner. The way he saw it, he had two options - the first was to come clean to his dad and Juvia about his involvement in the situation. He wasn't sure if his dad would be more disappointed in him for managing to impregnate a girl he barely knew, or interested in using the situation to try to push them together. His dad had been trying to get him to try dating her for years, but he'd always refused.

If he revealed the truth about what had happened that night, he knew he'd be under a lot of pressure to at least try to form some kind of relationship with Juvia. He couldn't deny that he was attracted to her - she was cute, and from what he could remember of their night together they were _very_ compatible. He wouldn't mind a repeat while they were both more sober. But he wasn't sure he wanted to get seriously involved with anyone, and if he did, he wanted it to be something he chose for himself, not something forced on him by circumstances beyond his control.

The second option was to keep quiet about what happened and let Juvia continue to think that tonight was the first time they'd met. If he let his dad go through with his plan to adopt her, her child would still end up legally a Fullbuster and his dad's grandchild even without his role in the child's paternity ever being known. They'd have a loving, supportive family, and his life wouldn't have to change in ways he wasn't ready for. He could even have a role in the kid's life, albeit as an uncle instead of a father. It sounded like the best outcome for everyone. So why did the idea leave a bad taste in his mouth?

He sighed. Maybe it was just that he still didn't like the idea of someone new suddenly being a member of their family, no matter how in need or deserving of help they might be. Anyway, he'd already denied knowing Juvia, and he was going to stick with that. It'd be better that way. After using the bathroom for its intended purpose, to help justify his absence, he made his way to the dinner table, where his dad was just getting ready to serve.

Taking a seat across from Juvia, Gray took in the food placed before him. It was nothing too fancy, just a steak and some steamed vegetables, but it was still better than what he tended to make for himself when he ate at home. His dad sat down last, at the end of the table between Gray and Juvia. Looking between his two guests, he asked, "I presume you two have introduced yourselves to each other?"

They both nodded, and his dad continued, "I asked the two of you over here tonight so that you could get to know each other better. Juvia will be a part of our family soon, and I hope you will treat each other well and support each other like family should."

Gray gave him a stiff nod while Juvia murmured, "Of course, Father." Turning to Gray, Juvia asked, "You work as an architect, correct?"

Gathering a fork full of vegetables, he responded shortly, "Yeah." He wasn't much good at small talk normally, let alone while still trying to cope with having a bombshell dropped on him.

She faltered a little at his one word answer, but gamely pressed on. "What made you decide to pursue that career?"

He shrugged as he finished swallowing his bite of food. "It seemed less boring than other choices."

His dad gave him a slightly reproachful look and remarked, "Juvia here studied marine biology in college."

"I'm sure that's helped her so much when answering phones and doing filing for you," Gray responded dryly, though he regretted his words a bit when he saw Juvia look down at her plate sadly.

Clearly irritated this time, his dad said stoutly, "It's a difficult job market, and Juvia does an _excellent_ job handling anything I ask of her." Turning more towards her, he asked, "What drew you to studying that, again?"

Gray watched as Juvia brightened a bit at the question and began to explain how she'd loved the ocean and the things living in it since she was a little kid. The rest of the evening continued in that vein, with his dad and Juvia dominating the conversation under his watchful eyes. Whenever either of them did try to draw him into the conversation more, he kept his answers terse.

Honestly, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that _his_ kid was growing inside of the woman sitting across from him, who didn't even look noticeably pregnant yet. He did notice that either Juvia was one hell of an actress, or she regarded his dad with genuine fondness. Since the second was more likely, it did ease his mind a little. He trusted his dad's judgment most of the time, but he had been a little worried that this girl had been taking advantage of his dad's kind nature. But no, she seemed to clearly enjoy his dad's company. His dad, too, seemed to be happier in her presence than Gray could remember him being for quite a while.

Once the meal was finished and the current topic of discussion had wound down, Juvia thanked his dad politely for inviting her over and took her leave. After it was clear that she had truly departed, his dad turned to him and smacked him lightly on the side of his head. "Ow! What was that for, old man?"

"For being so cold to sweet Juvia. I know you're not really thrilled by the idea of me adopting her, but you could've at least indulged her attempts to talk to you tonight."

Scowling, Gray replied, "I responded to everything she said to me, didn't I?"

His dad just shook his head. "By shutting down any further line of conversation afterwards, yeah."

"I just wasn't in a mood for making small talk tonight, alright? I'll try to be more friendly the next time we meet."

"I guess that'll do. She'll be moving into here sometime in the next few weeks, so you'll have another chance while you're helping out with that."

"Great," Gray grumbled.

A sly gleam appeared in his dad's eyes. "Y'know, for someone you didn't want to talk to, you spent an awful lot of time watching Juvia tonight. Maybe you'd rather a pretty girl like her wasn't going to end up being your sister, huh?"

Scowling again, Gray could feel his face getting warmer. "That's not it! I mean, she is pretty, but…"

That just made his dad chuckle. "Well, maybe not yet, but if she starts to grow on you as you get to know her, I wouldn't mind having her become a Fullbuster in a different way…"

Gray huffed, his embarrassed flush growing. "How many times do I have to tell you I ain't interested in settling down with someone right now before you get it through your thick skull?!"

His dad just laughed more. "You never know what might change your mind about these things, brat."

Shaking his head, Gray stomped out of his dad's house, throwing a grumbled good night at his dad over his shoulder as he left. Yeah, if his dad was being like this just with Gray and Juvia having met, he'd be even worse if he knew that the child Juvia was carrying was Gray's. He couldn't tell people the truth, not if he wanted to have any peace. Still, the knowledge sat uneasily within him, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to get any rest that night.


	3. Chapter 3

The evening after Juvia's dinner with Silver and Gray, she'd requested her friends to come over to her apartment so that she could tell them about everything. Eating and chatting with them for a while had helped her feel a bit more at ease. Juvia had ended up sitting at one end of the couch in her apartment's living room while Meredy was curled up at the other. Lisanna sat cross-legged on the floor nearby while Cana laid sprawled out in front of the couch, a beer held loosely in one hand.

"So, when're you gonna spill the beans?" Cana asked.

She felt a bit of her tension return at the question, but took a breath and as calmly as she could, she stated, "Juvia… Juvia's pregnant."

There was a moment of stunned silence and then a collective "What?!" came from her friends. Cana continued, "You broke up with Bora months ago, how could you- _Oh..._ "

Juvia saw the light bulb go on in Cana's head and nodded. "That night at Fairy Tail is when it happened. So Juvia doesn't know anything about the father or how to contact him."

"That's probably still better than you carrying Bora's spawn," Cana snarked.

Looking up at her, Lisanna asked in a sympathetic tone, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Juvia is going to keep the baby." She rested her hands over her stomach, which had gotten a little thicker but wasn't really showing her pregnancy yet. "It was a complete accident, but…"

Sitting up and scooting closer to her, Meredy wrapped an arm around Juvia's shoulders. "You know we'll help you out as much as we can."

She nodded, leaning into Meredy as tears filled her eyes. "Juvia knows, and she appreciates it. She'll try not to be too much of a burden, though."

Meredy shook her head and flicked Juvia's forehead. "Don't worry about that, you'll have enough on your plate as it is."

"Awww, man, does that mean we're gonna have to put up with you crying all over the place even more than normal for the next few months?" The smile on Cana's face belied her complaint, though.

Juvia sniffled and wiped at the tears that had already escaped. "Juvia supposes so."

"Have you told your boss about the pregnancy yet?" Lisanna asked.

She nodded, looking down with a bashful smile. "Juvia has, and he's completely supportive of her. He… He's even planning to adopt Juvia to make it easier for him to have guardianship of the child in case anything happens to Juvia."

Lisanna nodded, smiling up at her. "You've always said he liked you, I guess that proves how much he really does."

Juvia smiled back. "He's like the father Juvia never had, and now he really will be soon."

Meredy was smiling, too, as she squeezed her shoulder. "I'm happy for you. Have you guys made any plans yet?"

She nodded. "Juvia will be moving in with Father, probably in the next week or two. She has already met with his son over dinner."

"Oh, _really…_ " Cana said as she sat up, her interest evident. All of her friends had heard about Silver's offers to set her up with his son in the past. "So, what's he like?"

Juvia's face took on an uncertain expression. "Well, he is _very_ handsome, but… he was rather rude. Juvia wanted to get to know him better, but he barely talked at all while she was there."

"So he's an ass," Cana snorted. "That's a pity - waste of good looks."

She shook her head. "Maybe he was just put off by someone he doesn't know suddenly being added to his family…"

Cana shrugged. "You can think that if you want, but if he continues to be an ass to you, let us know and we'll set him straight."

Smiling, she responded, "Juvia will." After a moment of silence, she hesitantly continued, "She still needs to break the news to Gajeel."

A collective groan arose - they all knew he wouldn't take it that well - and Meredy spoke up. "I nominate Cana to help you with this!"

Lisanna quickly seconded the idea and Cana griped, "Why me?"

"Oh, maybe because if you hadn't gotten Juvia so drunk that night this wouldn't have happened?" Meredy shot back.

"No good deed goes unpunished, I guess…" Cana grumbled.

The conversation turned to lighter topics for the rest of the night. As her friends were leaving, the last one to go, Meredy, turned to her and wrapped her up in a hug. "If you need anything, anything at all, let me know, okay? I don't care what time it is."

Juvia nodded, her eyes feeling teary again. "Alright, Juvia will." She loved all of her friends, but her bond with Meredy was special. Assigned as roommates their first year in college, they'd both been shy and withdrawn, Juvia because of years of bullying for being a weird orphan and Meredy due to her foster parents' strict religious upbringing. They'd bonded and supported each other as they worked on coming out of their shells.

"Just remember, we're all here for you." With that and one last smile Meredy left.

* * *

As expected, when Juvia and Cana visited Gajeel's apartment to tell him about her pregnancy he was less than thrilled. "You're _WHAT?!_ "

She sighed and began to repeat herself, "Juvia's-"

"Heard ya the first time," he cut her off as he began to pace up and down his living room. "How could you be so _careless_ , Blue? You haven't even dated anyone for months, so what kind of reckless shit have you been up to, that you got knocked up?!"

Juvia looked down, wincing a little at his harsh tone even though she knew he was just concerned about her. Still, she felt foolish enough about ending up in this situation as it was. "A couple of months ago Cana took Juvia and the other girls out drinking to try to help her get over her ex. Juvia had a bit too much to drink, and…"

Gajeel halted, his head whipping around so he could glare at a slightly sheepish looking Cana. "You're both idiots. Drunkard for convincing you to drink so much, and you for letting her!"

"Juvia knows, Gajeel. She definitely won't be doing that again."

"Speak for yourself," Cana quipped, earning her a dirty look from him before he turned his attention back to Juvia.

"I should hope not!" He took a deep breath as he pushed his long hair back. "So, what's your plan?"

With a determined expression, she told him, "Juvia's keeping it."

Crossing his arms and meeting her gaze with a serious one of his own, he asked, "You sure? This ain't something to take on lightly."

She nodded. "Juvia knows, she'll do everything in her power to keep this child from having the childhood Gajeel and Juvia did. It won't be easy, but she has many people to help support her along the way."

He nodded back. "Including me."

Juvia proceeded to explain about how her boss planned to make her part of his family, which he didn't have much to say about other than that he'd bring his truck around when she was ready to move, and to let others do the heavy lifting when packing.

When she was about to leave, he pulled her into an awkward hug, placing one hand on top of her head and ruffling her hair. "You better take care of yourself, you hear me?"

She nodded with a teary-eyed smile. They'd been looking out for each other since they were kids, growing up in the same orphanage. "Juvia knows. She's grateful you care so much."

With a final pat Gajeel let her go while Cana snickered in the background. "Um, yeah, whatever."

Juvia had almost made it out the door when he called out to her, "Don't forget, pregnant or not you're still in the wedding!"

She groaned, dragging a hand down her face at the reminder. With the pregnancy worries taking up her thoughts, she'd almost forgotten that he was marrying his girlfriend in a month and a half and she was a member of the wedding party. Her dress would need to be adjusted to fit her expanding waistline (and bust for that matter). "Juvia won't!" she called back as she left.

* * *

Next Friday night found Gray seated at a table at Fairy Tail, surrounded by his friends. The club had an upper floor that was a bit removed from the din of the dance floor, letting them talk to each other without shouting. Cobwebs and fake spiders were strung all across the ceiling and jack o' lanterns were perched in many corners, ready for all the partying that would take place tomorrow on Halloween. Fairy Tail always went all out on decorating for holidays.

Gray was trying to enjoy this time, since evenings like this were becoming a rarity. Between Erza and Jellal working long hours at their respective law firms and Natsu and Lucy having had a child just a few months ago, it was getting harder for them to all get together and have fun like they used to. Even Loke had been spending more time with Aries, now that he'd chosen to stop playing the field and actually settle down, instead of hanging out.

So he'd been spending more time at home, watching movies or playing video games, than he really wanted to. Not that he didn't enjoy doing those things, but he missed getting out of the house and doing things with his friends. Which wasn't to say they didn't do their best to keep in touch and go out when they could - they just had more things going on in their lives to juggle than before.

Gray had to admit, sometimes when he watched the couples among his friends together, he wondered what it'd be like to have someone like that, that he'd want to share his life with. But then he remembered what his dad had been like right after the accident and dismissed the possibility. He wasn't willing to open himself up to that kind of pain. And even if he'd wanted to look for that kind of bond, the fact that Juvia was now carrying his child made it all too complicated.

"Jewel for your thoughts?" Loke's voice brought his attention back to his friends. "You've been pretty quiet tonight."

He took a deep breath as he considered how much to reveal. Gray didn't want to mention that he'd gotten someone pregnant, not with Erza there. She was weirdly traditional about some things, and being married at sword-point to a girl he barely knew was _not_ his idea of a fun time. Not that he was sure she'd actually go that far, but with Erza it was usually better safe than sorry. But he could tell them about what his dad was doing, which was at least part of what was weighing on his mind.

"My dad's planning to adopt his secretary, and I'm not sure how to feel about it," he admitted.

"His secretary? Wasn't he trying to get you to date her for a while?" Lucy asked, puzzled.

He nodded. "She's pregnant, and the father isn't in the picture. So he decided the best way to help her was to make her part of the family." That was mostly true - even if wasn't completely uninvolved, he'd chosen not to step up and admit his true role.

"Have you met this young lady yet?" Erza asked curiously.

"Yeah, about a week ago. She seems nice enough, I guess, but thinking she'll be legally my sister soon… It's weird."

"Is she pretty?" Loke asked, an eyebrow raised suggestively.

Gray rolled his eyes. "Why do _you_ care? I thought you swore off other women when you got together with Aries."

"I can still appreciate the existence of beauty in the world, even if I no longer wish to do more than that," Loke shot back. "Besides, I was asking on your behalf. After all, maybe you'd prefer she didn't think of you as a brother." He winked and Gray frowned.

"She's kind of cute, I guess, not that it matters. It's not like I want to get involved with her or something." He found himself hunching into himself defensively as his cheeks warmed a little.

Natsu smirked at him, leaning forward. "You sure about that, ice prick? I think you're protesting a little too much."

Scowling, he leaned over the table towards Natsu. "Listen, you-"

From the other end of the table, Erza called, "You're not going to start a fight, now are you, boys?" They both glanced at her, taking in the dark glare was directing their way, and promptly settled back in their seats, looking away from each other.

"Adopting a legal adult is a fairly simple process, but the paperwork takes a little while, so you have some time to get used to the idea," Jellal told him kindly.

Gray nodded. "It's just strange having someone new that I'm expected to consider family like this."

"Big changes often are," Erza agreed. "But I have faith in your ability to handle it."

"And if you need to talk, or vent, or anything, you know we're here for you, right?" Lucy added.

"I know. Thanks, guys, really." Life may have been putting a little more distance between them than there used to be, but he had no doubt that if he really needed them, they'd find a way to be there. But what was weighing on his mind the most was something he couldn't tell them about, not unless he wanted to come clean about his true role in Juvia's pregnancy.

Jabbing him in the ribs playfully, Loke asked, "Are you sure you don't want to describe her in more detail?" The rest of the table laughed as he let out an exasperated groan.

"So, Lucy, how is Kenneth doing?" Gray asked in a desperate bid to change the subject. Her eyes lighting up, Lucy proceeded to ramble on about a new parent's favorite subject - their kid. As he listened to her talk, he wondered what he'd feel once Juvia had given birth to their child. Would he be just as enthralled with them as Lucy and Natsu were with Kenneth, or…?

As the conversation wandered to other topics, Gray managed to set his worries aside for a while. No matter what else was going on in his life, he knew he was lucky to have friends like these.


	4. Chapter 4

Juvia gradually got everything in her apartment either tossed or boxed, and by the first Saturday in November everything was ready to either be moved to Silver's house or put into storage - the latter category included most of her furniture. Gajeel showed up with his truck around 9 that morning, and growled at her when she tried to lift almost anything.

"You do realize that Juvia's hardly an invalid at this point, right?" she asked him wearily after what felt like the tenth time he'd taken something from her. "The little one has a lot of growing to do before they really start weighing her down."

"Not taking any chances," he retorted, and Juvia sighed as she brought one of the smaller boxes out to the truck. Because she was hardly allowed to help, the loading of the truck took much longer than she thought it should've. Once everything that was going was on the truck, it was a short drive to the storage unit she'd rented. By the time everything that was going into the unit had been packed into it, it was after 3.

As they were driving towards Silver's house, she remarked, "If Juvia had known Gajeel was going to keep her from helping so much, Juvia would've asked her boss's son to come over and help."

He rolled his eyes, "Quit complaining, I got it done, didn't I? 'Sides, no way we could've fit someone else in this truck, and we don't need a whole caravan just to take care of your stuff."

Juvia sighed and looked out the window. The neighborhood Silver lived in was a quiet residential one, with plenty of trees and parks for kids to play in. As they got close, Gajeel said, "Huh. I kinda feel like I've been over here before, but I can't remember what for…"

Gajeel backed into the driveway to make it easier to unload, and while he went to lower the tailgate Juvia hopped out and headed towards the house. She'd texted Silver to let him know she was almost there, so she wasn't too surprised when Gray met her halfway. As she lead him back towards the truck, Gajeel came back around the end of it with the first load of boxes and froze when he spotted Gray, his eyes widening. She glanced at Gray, who looked just as shocked. "You!" they both shouted while pointing at each other.

Glancing between them again, she asked, "You two know each other?"

Gajeel nodded. "He's a friend of Natsu's. Knows Levy, too." That made sense - Gajeel didn't go out of his way to make friends, and really only had one besides her, a large dark-skinned man named Lily. But he and Natsu had been raised as cousins before they lost their parents, even though they weren't actually blood related, and had reconnected after they both got out of the system. Gajeel had even ended up meeting Levy through Natsu's then girlfriend Lucy.

"So how do _you two_ know each other?" Gray asked, looking at them with an eyebrow raised skeptically. She knew they didn't exactly look like they went together, with Gajeel's long wild hair and piercings contrasting with her more demure demeanor.

"None of your business, Stripper," Gajeel replied brusquely. She was torn between sighing because of Gajeel's attitude and raising an eyebrow herself at his nickname for Gray.

Gray's brows lowered. "I think that it became my business when my dad invited her to live here."

Gajeel grip on the box he was holding tightened. She moved towards him and laid a calming hand on his forearm, making him glance towards her. "It's okay, Gajeel." Turning towards Gray, she explained, "Juvia grew up with him at the same orphanage."

Stepping away from Gajeel, she continued, "The boxes aren't carrying themselves, so…" Gajeel grunted and started carrying his load towards the house, while Gray shot him one last look before following her.

As he reached into the truck for a box to carry, Gray commented, "I don't know how someone like you can put up with someone like him."

She shrugged. "Juvia's tougher than she looks. And he's not that bad once you get used to him. He's a real softie for the ones he cares about." She couldn't keep from giggling at the incredulous look Gray gave her at that statement.

When she tried to pick up one of the boxes, he frowned at her. "Are you sure you should be lifting that?"

That made her groan. "Not you, too! Juvia's pregnant, not incapable!"

Gray raised his hands in an apologetic gesture. "Sorry, I just don't have much experience with this, so I don't know what you should or shouldn't be doing."

Juvia took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Juvia's sorry, too. Gajeel hasn't wanted Juvia carrying almost anything and it's been getting on her nerves."

"Yeah, that's gotta be frustrating," he agreed. "Did you ask your doctor about it?"

She nodded. "She said that Juvia could still do everything she used to right now. Juvia isn't even feeling as tired as she has been."

"Well, then pick that up and let's get this stuff into your new room." They took the boxes into the house, Gajeel giving Juvia a dirty look as he passed them. The room Juvia was going to be using was on the first floor and used to be an office, but Silver and Gray had cleared it out. There were other bedrooms upstairs, but while the stairs wouldn't be a problem for her now, in a few months they'd be a challenge.

Juvia continued to help as they stacked boxes against one of the walls, but both Gajeel and Gray agreed that she wasn't allowed to carry any of the furniture. There wasn't too much of that - just a bed, a bookshelf, a nightstand, and a lamp. Juvia directed the placement of the furniture, making sure it was arranged to her satisfaction.

By the time everything from the truck had made its way into her room, it was after 7. Silver offered to order dinner for all of them, but Gajeel and Gray both turned him down. As Juvia was escorting him to the door, Gajeel turned to her. "Are you sure you wanna live here? I mean, your boss seems like a decent guy, but Gray's a perv."

"A perv?" Juvia asked, frowning.

"Yeah, what do you mean, a perv?" Gray butted in, having over heard them as he was getting ready to leave himself.

"What else do ya call a guy who'll take off his clothes in public?" Gajeel shot back.

Flushing a bit, Gray growled back, "That only happens when I get really drunk!"

"Oh, really? Then where's your shirt now?"

Gray looked down at himself and his face flushed more as he realized he'd taken off his shirt while they were moving stuff. "I got hot!" he snapped, voice defensive. "Lifting stuff works up a sweat!"

"It's November!" As Gajeel and Gray bickered, Juvia let her eyes wander over Gray's exposed chest, thinking that she wouldn't mind getting to see his well-muscled torso more often. But if she said _that_ , Gajeel would be dragging her out of here.

"It'll be fine, Gajeel," she told him, breaking into their argument. "Gray won't be around that often - he lives in his own apartment. And Juvia is sure that Father won't let him do anything untoward to her."

Gajeel sighed. "If yer sure about it…"

"Juvia is," she replied firmly.

He nodded, though he was still frowning. "You know how to get ahold of me if you need me."

She nodded back, then enfolded him in a hug. "Thank you for all your help today."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as he looked away, but his arms rose to wrap around her gently for a long moment before he pulled away. Pointing at Gray, he said, "I'll be keeping my eye on you," before turning and heading out the door.

Gray let out a sigh once he was gone. "Overprotective much?" he griped to no one in particular.

She shrugged. "Juvia's luck with men hasn't been the best, so he has some reason for his concern." Tilting her head to one side, she asked, " _Does_ Gray have trouble keeping his clothes on?"

He looked away while scratching the back of his head, but she could see his cheeks starting to go red again before he turned away. "There have been a few incidents, and I do get hot easily so I take my shirt off more than most guys… But it isn't like I run around flashing people for kicks or something! Gajeel was making too big of a deal about it."

"Juvia believes you," she told him with a kind smile, and he turned back to her looking a little relieved.

"Well, good." He glanced around, then continued, "I should be heading home myself."

"Shouldn't you put your shirt back on before you go?"

He looked down at himself again. "Shit." She tried to muffle her giggles behind her hand as he searched for his shirt, finally locating it in the living room near the door to her new room. Pulling it back on, he gave her an awkward wave as he headed out the door. Thinking back on their interactions that day, Juvia was glad he hadn't been as standoffish as he had been the first time they'd met. Maybe he was getting used to the idea of her joining his family.

Silver still got takeout for himself and Juvia, and they chatted lightly as they ate. By the time they were done with dinner, Juvia was starting to yawn. She might've overworked herself a little out of her irritation with Gajeel babying her. Bidding Silver a good night, she headed to her room. Most of her things were still in boxes, but the bed had been made and she had some clothes to wear the next day, so all she had to do before crawling into bed was change into pajamas.

Juvia woke up feeling refreshed the next morning - she'd been tired enough that she didn't have much trouble falling asleep, even in a new place. Pulling on a robe, she gathered her bathing supplies so she could take a shower, thankful that the first floor had a full bath. After she got out of the shower, delicious smells lead her into the kitchen.

"Morning," Silver greeted her cheerfully, glancing towards her from where he was cooking an omelette on the stove. "This is just about ready, so go ahead and take a seat."

The table had already been set, with a plate of fresh toast in the middle of it with butter and jam ready to be spread on it. As Juvia sat down, taking in the scene, she could feel tears gathering in her eyes.

"Here we go-" Silver was saying as he brought the skillet over to put the omelette on her plate, only to stop short when he saw her tears. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

She shook her head. "It's just- Juvia doesn't remember the last time someone made breakfast for her like this."

Concern shifting into understanding, he smiled at her and finished depositing her omelette in front of her. "Well, you'll be getting them a bit more often from now on," he told her lightly.

As he turned back to the stove to cook his own omelette, Juvia helped herself to some toast to go with her eggs. The food itself wasn't anything special, but she couldn't keep from smiling as she ate.

Once Silver finished up his own breakfast and joined her at the table, he commented, "It'll be nice having someone else living in this old house again. It's too big for just one person to be rattling around in it, and that son of mine always seems to busy to visit."

She nodded with a shy smile. "Juvia is happy to be welcomed here."

"It's been even longer since this place has heard the putter patter of little feet," he remarked. "I do hope your little one will be less trying than Gray was, or my hair will probably be all white by the time they're grown."

As Silver proceeded to tell some stories about Gray's childhood, Juvia found herself relaxing more than she had since she'd first found out she was pregnant. She wanted the child growing within her, of course, or she wouldn't have chosen to keep it despite the circumstances, but now for the first time she was starting to get excited about what life here with her child would be like.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days after his last visit, Gray found himself at his dad’s place again. Apparently Tuesday nights were going to be family movie nights until further notice. And even though the whole situation still felt weird to him, he knew that avoiding his dad and Juvia wouldn’t help anything. Plus getting to know Juvia a little better wouldn’t hurt, he supposed.

He rang the doorbell briefly before letting himself into his dad’s house, catching Juvia in the middle of standing up to answer the door. She settled back down on the living room sofa as Gray moved to join her there. After they exchanged greetings, Silver stuck his head out of the kitchen and asked, “Does popcorn sound good for a snack to have during the movie?”

“Sure,” Gray called out in reply, while Juvia practically bounced with excitement on the other end of the couch.

“Do you have kettle corn? Juvia loves it!” she added.

“Lemme check…”

As his dad went back into the kitchen to look, Gray raised an eyebrow at Juvia. “That isn’t exactly the healthiest thing to be eating, is it?”

To say he was shocked when she burst into tears after he said that would be an understatement. “G-gray think Juvia is a bad mom who doesn’t care about her baby’s health!”

“What?! No!” How the heck had she taken that from him telling her kettle corn wasn’t very healthy?! Shit, she was still crying, though. How could he fix this?? “I think you care a lot about your baby, with everything you’ve being doing to try to make sure they’ll be taken care of. And- and I’m sure it’s okay to eat sweets occasionally while you’re pregnant, so having kettle corn if you want some is fine! So please stop crying…”

For a moment he thought he’d succeeded in calming her down, as the flow of tears started to slow. But then she burst into a fresh spate of crying. “Juvia’s sorry! She cried over something that small…!”

Was she really crying over having started crying?! The commotion Juvia was making drew his dad out of the kitchen, and when Gray looked up his expression must’ve shown how panicked he was feeling - he really didn’t know how to deal with crying very well - because Silver walked over and patted his shoulder. “You go fix the popcorn - I’ll handle this.”

Grateful for a reason to remove himself from the situation, Gray quickly got up and headed towards the kitchen while Silver sat down next to Juvia. When he reached the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room, he glanced back across the foyer to the living room. He didn’t have a very good angle, but it looked like his dad was holding Juvia and stroking her hair while she cried.

Inside the kitchen the boxes of microwave popcorn were already sitting out on the counter - it turned out they did have some kettle corn flavored popcorn after all. He took out one bag of kettle corn and two of regular buttered popcorn, noting with a slight frown that that was all that was left of the regular popcorn.

Microwaving popcorn was simple enough, but it took him a few minutes to get all three things of popcorn popped. As he carried them back to the living room, he was relieved to see that Juvia had stopped crying while he was gone. She seemed kind of embarrassed about it, though, offering a sheepish apology after he’d handed out the popcorn and plopped down on the other side of his dad from her. “Don’t worry about it,” he told her, though he also made a mental note to be more careful what he said around her - he’d heard that pregnant women got very emotional, but he hadn’t expected her to be that easy to set off.

Pulling up Netflix on the TV, Silver asked, “So, what do you guys want to see?”

Perking up, Juvia asked, “How about the Little Mermaid?”

Gray quashed an urge to tease her about only liking that one because of all the fish - he didn’t want to upset her again, after all. So instead he asked, “Can’t we watch something with a little more action in it?”

“Why don’t you pick something out that you’d like, then, and we can watch Juvia’s choice afterwards?” Silver offered before turning towards Juvia. “If that’s okay with you?”

Juvia nodded. “That seems fair,” she agreed.

Gray caught the remote his dad tossed to him and started scrolling through the offerings. He wasn’t sure why his pick got to go first - maybe his dad realized he’d been asking a lot of Gray lately and wanted to do something nice? - but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Deciding on a movie he hadn’t seen before but looked like it would have plenty of car chases and explosions, he started it and the three of them settled in to watch.

Things were pretty quiet as the movie played out in front of them. Gray glanced past his dad at Juvia occasionally, finding her attention fixed firmly on the movie. He was a little surprised that she seemed to be enjoying the movie as much as she was. But then, what did he really know about her and her tastes in much of anything?

Once the movie finished, they all got up and stretched. When his dad moved to grab his coat and keys, though, Gray felt the need to ask, “Hey, where are you headed off to?”

“Just gonna do a quick store run to pick up some more popcorn, since we’re out,” Silver answered easily before taking the door that lead to the garage from the kitchen. As he heard his dad’s truck start up, Gray shrugged and flopped back down on the couch.

When Juvia sat down on the couch beside him, closer to the middle than before, he turned to her and commented, “Y’know, if I hadn’t seen that we were out of popcorn myself, I’d be wondering if my dad just wanted to give us some time to talk alone.”

She shrugged. “Perhaps Father is hoping Gray and Juvia will do that too. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to know each other better, would it?”

“Nah, you’re right.” After studying her for a moment, he asked her something he’d been wondering about since Saturday. “How did you and Gajeel end up becoming friends? I mean, you said you grew up together, but that doesn’t mean that you’d have to become friends.”

After taking a minute to gather her thoughts, she replied, “Gajeel and Juvia were the misfits even among those who lived in the orphanage. Gajeel was, well, rude and angry, even more than he is now, and Juvia was sad and pale when parents wanted girls with sunny smiles and golden curls. They were the kids no one wanted to take a chance on, and that the other kids avoided. So Gajeel and Juvia spent time together, because even being around someone who only tolerated your presence was better than being completely alone.”

“But you do a lot more than tolerate each other now,” he commented.

She nodded. “When everyone else just rejects you out of hand, even finding someone who doesn’t push you away means a lot. Some of the other kids teased Juvia for how she talks and crying a lot, and when Gajeel started threatening them to get them to lay off of her, that’s when she knew he really cared about her, even if he didn’t like to show it.”

Juvia chuckled a little. “She thinks that having a sibling might feel something like this - you don’t have a lot of interests in common, and you don’t always get along, but you care about each other and have each other’s backs.”

“Huh.” It was kind of interesting to hear a different perspective on Gajeel. To Gray, he was mostly a rough guy with a bit of a temper. Gray knew there had to be more to him, or he wouldn’t have captured Levy’s interest, but it wasn’t something he’d ever really seen, and it’s not like Levy had ever poured her heart to him about why she fell in love with Gajeel. “But really, I can’t understand why no one would be interested in adopting you when you were a kid.”

She shrugged. “Parents didn’t want to have to deal with a child with problems, and Juvia was much worse off then than she is now. Once she went to college, she was finally able to make friends other than Gajeel. And she even found someone who wants her to be part of their family,” Juvia finished with a smile.

He looked away uncomfortably at the last statement. “Look, I…”

“Gray doesn’t know Juvia, so he can’t think of her as family yet,” she stated simply, making him look back up at her. “Juvia can understand that, she just hopes that Gray will give her a chance.”

Things were more complicated than that, for reasons he hadn’t told her (and finding out how close Gajeel was to her didn’t make him feel better about coming clean on the subject, either) but… He nodded. “I can do that much.”

They’d shifted closer together without really realizing it while they were talking, letting Juvia reach out and brush his bangs away from his eyes without having to stretch. He shivered a little as the tips of her fingers skimmed his forehead, then froze when she traced the scar above his left eye.

“How did you get this?” she asked, and he could finally move, knocking her hand away and bolting up from the couch. He made a beeline for the front door. He thought she might have started crying behind him, but all he could really focus on was getting away from her and that question.

Once he was outside, he ran his hands over his face and clutched at his hair, willing the memories of that day away. The memories caused by his greatest mistake. Once he’d managed to push them back into the recesses of his mind and his breathing had calmed, he got into his car and started to drive home. He’d have to apologize to his dad and Juvia later, but he just wasn’t up to sticking around any longer. He just hoped he wouldn’t have nightmares of screeching tires and shattering glass again tonight.

* * *

When Silver arrived home to find Gray not there and Juvia weeping on the couch, he wondered how things could have gone so wrong in the short time that he’d been away. Once he managed to get the story of what had happened out of Juvia, he grimaced a little. “The subject of that scar is a painful one for Gray. That’s why he reacted that way,” he explained.

Her eyes started to fill with tears again. “Juvia’s so sorry! She had no idea…!”

“I know you didn’t, my dear. And I’m sure Gray will understand you meant no harm, too,” he reassured her.

She nodded as she tried to wipe away her tears. “Juvia will make sure to apologize the next time she sees him.”

“Good. And please don’t bring the subject up to him again. If you’re truly curious about how he got that scar… He received it in a car accident, the same one in which I got this.” He drew his finger down the large scar on the left side of his face, the one that always made her think it was a miracle he hadn’t lost his left eye as well.

“Oh,” she replied. “Then it must be a painful subject for you, as well.”

As he pulled her into a hug, he told her, “It doesn’t hurt that much anymore - it happened a long time ago.” But as his arms around her tightened a little, Juvia didn’t quite believe him.


	6. Chapter 6

Gray was agitated as he entered the small office space that his dad rented for his company that Friday. He rarely had reason to visit the place - heck, he didn’t think he’d visited it since before his dad had hired Juvia - but he needed to ask his dad something and Silver wasn’t picking his phone. So he’d resorted to stopping by the office, since maybe he’d get lucky and his dad would be there, or more likely, Juvia’d have an idea of where he was.

Sitting at the front desk, Juvia looked a bit startled by his abrupt entrance. "Oh, um, hello…" Glancing down, she continued, "Juvia’s sorry about being too nosy on Tuesday."

"Don’t worry about it," he told her, waving her worries off. "If anything, I shouldn’t have reacted like that to a simple question." Looking back up at him, she nodded. Pressing immediately on, he asked, "Do you know where my dad is? I need to talk to him."

Frowning a little, Juvia asked, "What does Gray need to talk to Father about?"

"I just found out this morning that the HVAC contractor for a project I did the plans for cancelled, so they’re scrambling to find a replacement." Shoving a hand roughly through his hair, he started pacing back and forth in front of Juvia’s desk. "The longer it takes to find someone to replace them, the more the schedule’s going to slip. This is the first time my plans are being used for such a large project, so its success will impact my career… I want to ask my dad if he has any suggestions for what companies that do decent work might have an opening, but I’m having trouble getting ahold of him…"

"Juvia has an idea, actually…" Looking over at her, Gray found her concentrating on something of the computer screen in front of her. "What needs to be installed and when?"

A bit bemused by her line of questioning, Gray explained what would be needed. Juvia examined what was on her computer for a couple more minutes then picked up her phone and started calling someone. "Hi, this is Juvia Lockser, calling from Fullbuster Heating and Cooling."

She listened to whoever was on the other end of the line. "I’m fine. How is the construction coming along?" Juvia listened again while making the occasional affirmative noise. "Well, since you’ve run into delays, would it work better for you if we rescheduled your installation for a later date?" After settling the new installation date with the client, she hung up and called someone else.

Gray just watched and listened as Juvia continued to make a series of calls, convincing people to reschedule their appointments more often than not. She was calm and confident as she spoke to his father’s clients, a side of her he hadn’t really seen before. Once she appeared to be finished, he commented, "Y’know, I hadn’t heard you actually speak in first person before."

Whatever she’d opened her mouth to start to say was forgotten as she flushed a little. "Juvia can talk more normally if she wants to, she just got into the habit of talking this way when she was younger. Why, does it bother Gray?"

He shook his head. "It’s quirky, but who doesn’t have a few oddities?"

"True," she agreed with a chuckle. "After all, apparently Gray isn’t that fond of clothes…"

He groaned. "It was only a few times when I was really drunk! Won’t anyone let me live that down?"

"Anyway," she replied, changing the subject, "Juvia has rearranged the schedule so that Fullbuster Heating and Cooling can take care of the HVAC work that needs to be done for your project. We’ll accept whatever payment the original contractor was going to get."

Gray gaped at her for a moment. "Are you serious?" When she nodded, he couldn’t keep a wide smile from spreading across his lips. "Thank you! You’re a lifesaver!" Turning to leave, he looked back at her over his shoulder. "I have to go give the good news to the developer. Thanks again!"

Exiting his father’s office, he felt like a load had been lifted off his shoulders.

* * *

Once Gray had left, Juvia pressed one of her hands to her chest, over her now rapidly beating heart. She’d never seen him look so happy before. Normally she thought he was very handsome, but when he smiled like that…

Urgh. The last thing she needed was to develop feelings for Gray. Not that he seemed like that bad a guy, occasional coldness towards her aside, but falling in love with a guy who was going to soon legally be her brother would just complicate things, and the _last_ thing she needed right now was for her life to be more complicated.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she grabbed her phone and called Silver, hoping he would actually pick up this time. He had a bad habit of ignoring his phone while he was busy supervising an installation or trying to gain new clients. Thankfully, he picked up quickly this time. "Hi, Father," she greeted.

"Hey, beautiful. Did you need something?"

"It’s more that Juvia needs to tell you about something." She proceeded to explain the situation with Gray and what she’d done about it. "Juvia hopes she hasn’t overstepped her authority."

"No, no, it’s fine," he reassured her with a laugh. "I would’ve wanted to do something like that to help him if it was possible, so thank you for making the effort to make it happen."

"You’re welcome." They chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up. Afterwards, looking over the schedule she’d rearranged again, Juvia found herself smiling.

* * *

Tuesday came around again, and Gray found himself at his dad’s for another movie night. This time, he wisely didn’t comment when Juvia asked for kettle corn for her snack. When they were all settled on the couch with their bowls of popcorn, Silver pulled up Netflix again on the TV. "Since someone didn’t stick around very long last time," his dad stated, and Gray cringed a little inside even though his dad didn’t single him out further, "we’re going to start off by watching Juvia’s pick from last time."

With an excited smile, Juvia accepted the remote and started the Little Mermaid up. During the film, Gray found himself paying more attention to Juvia’s reactions to it than the movie itself. She may have enjoyed the action flick Gray had chosen, but she _really_ got into this one, singing along with the songs and smiling and gasping in all the right places even though she’d probably seen it like a million times. It was kinda cute, really, how worked up she got.

Once the movie was over, his dad got up to make them more popcorn, and he leaned closer to Juvia to ask, "So, you really like that one, huh?"

She nodded vigorously. "It’s Juvia’s favorite Disney movie. Her childhood was far from being that of a princess, but she could relate to looking at another world from the outside, and wishing you could be there instead of where you were." Tilting her head at him, she asked, "Have you ever felt that way?"

Gray shook his head. "Not really. I hope you’re happier with where you are now, though."

Nodding again, she let a gentle smile cross her lips. "Juvia thinks she might finally be where she wants to be."

That was when his dad came back with more popcorn. "Well, since you two have had your turns, I get to pick this time," Silver declared as he took back control of the remote, making Gray groan.

Juvia looked questioningly at Gray from his dad’s other side, which Gray shook his head in response to. "Just wait until you get to experience his taste in movies."

As expected, his dad dug up some cheesy romantic comedy and put it on. Maybe he should’ve expected it, but Juvia got into it, too, cheering on the main pair and threatening to cry when it looked like the girl would end up back together with her jerk of an boyfriend instead. But then instead of taking the job that would take him across the country from her, the guy turns up at her birthday party and confesses his undying love for her (of course). And despite the fact that anyone with half a brain could see this coming, both his dad and Juvia ended up crying tears of joy.

Once the movie was finished and the two of them had recovered from the ending, Gray found himself yawning. "Hey, dad, I don’t really feel like heading home tonight. Mind if I crash here?"

"Nah, go ahead," Silver replied.

Brow furrowing, Juvia asked, "But doesn’t Gray have to go to work in the morning?"

"I keep a few clothes here in my old bedroom just in case," Gray explained.

She nodded, then covered a yawn of her own. "Well, Juvia is going to bed now. Don’t stay up too late, you two."

Once Juvia had retreated through the door to her room, Silver turned to him and asked in a low voice, "So, what do you think of her now that you’ve spent a bit more time with her?"

Gray shrugged. "She’s pretty nice, I think we’ll be friendly with each other at least. But it’s still weird to think about her being my sister."

"Too pretty for you to want her to be off limits?" his dad teased with a smirk.

He groaned and covered his face. "Why do I even try with you?" His dad’s quiet chuckling followed him up the stairs to his room.

* * *

In the morning, Juvia was woken up before her alarm by the sound of running water coming from above her room. After a few moments of sleepy thinking, she figured out that it must be Gray taking a shower. Figuring that it made little sense to try to go back to sleep, she got up and took her own shower. Wrapping a robe around herself afterwards, she headed to the kitchen to start making breakfast - with all Silver was doing for her, she figured the least she could do was help out with the cooking some.

What she wasn’t expecting to see when she got to the kitchen was a still-damp Gray Fullbuster, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist and bent over a bit while rooting around in the fridge, highlighting the shape of his butt. She clapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes trailed up his well-defined back to his firm shoulders and back down to his ass again. She must have made some kind of noise, though, because Gray straightened up and turned around. "Oh. Morning, Juvia."

She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t seem to keep her gaze from wandering over his exposed chest and legs. Finally pulling her eyes back to his face, she pointed at him and tried to ask why he wasn’t wearing any clothes, but only about half the words managed to make it out of her mouth.

Still, Gray seemed to get the jist of what she was trying to say, as he looked down at himself and flushed. "Shit, sorry! I’m not used to…! Sorry!" After making sure to give her a wide berth as he edged around her towards the door, he then fled the kitchen.

Once he was gone, Juvia buried her face in her hands. There was _no way_ she was going to be able to forget how he looked, freshly showered and wearing almost nothing. As she pictured his sculptured chest, she could almost feel his muscles under her fingertips. Groaning, she was sure that her new knowledge of just how sexy he was was only going to make her life more difficult.

When Juvia related what had happened to her friends later, she couldn't resist the urge to cover her burning face with her hands. Cana chuckled in response from where she was sitting on the other end of Meredy's couch. "I guess getting treated to occasional eye candy is a hidden perk of moving in with your boss," she remarked with a smirk.

Juvia let out a groan in response. "How can Juvia look him in the eye now that she's seen him practically naked?! Gray is going to be her brother, she shouldn't think about how sexy he is…!"

Lisanna placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down," she told Juvia, her tone comforting. "It'll be okay. I'm sure he found it as embarrassing as you did. If you do your best to act normal around him, he'll probably be happy to pretend it never happened."

Lowering her hands to her lap, she asked, "But what if Juvia can't ignore how attractive he is and develops feelings?"

"Well, if he feels the same you could skip the adoption and just marry him instead," Meredy jokingly suggested from her spot on the floor facing the couch.

She sighed, even knowing Meredy wasn't being serious. "Juvia doubts he would like someone like her. And if she made a move and he rejected her it would make things awkward."

Lisanna squeezed her shoulder. "Don't sell yourself short. But you do have a point about the awkwardness."

Sitting up, Meredy added, "Emotions aren't really something that can be predicted or controlled. So just be your usual self around him, like Lisanna advised, and don't worry about what to do about any feelings you might someday have for him until you actually have them, okay?"

Juvia nodded, feeling a bit better after getting her worries off her chest.

"In other words, relax and enjoy the hotness," Cana chimed in, making them all laugh.


	7. Chapter 7

When Juvia agreed to accompany Gajeel to the play his cousin Wendy was performing in because Levy couldn't make it, she'd been expecting to see Natsu, since Natsu was also Wendy's cousin, but she hadn't been expecting Gray to be with him, hands in his pockets and a bored expression on his face. Looking at Gray brought back memories of seeing him in almost no clothing, making her face tint a little pink as she looked away. She did her best to shake the memories away, though - she couldn't let one little incident make things awkward between them.

After greetings were exchanged, looking for a distraction from Gray's presence she commented, "Juvia thought Natsu would prefer bringing his girlfriend to something like this."

Natsu pouted. "I was gonna, but she's got a deadline she has to make so I got stuck with this cold-loving guy instead." Gray raised an eyebrow at this, his expression showing that he wasn't too thrilled to be the one with Natsu tonight, either. "And it's weird that you're with Gajeel instead of Levy."

Before Gajeel could snap something at Natsu, she told him, "Levy wasn't feeling well tonight so Juvia agreed to take her place. The important thing is for Wendy to know that she's supported, _right_?"

They both grumbled an agreement while Gray looked amused, at least until she turned her attention to him, making him quickly nod.

The line to get in wasn't long, which wasn't that surprising for a college production, particularly by one of the lower level theater classes. All four of their seats were together - Lucy and Levy were good friends even if Gajeel and Natsu's relationship was more difficult, so it made sense that they'd wanted to sit next to each other. Sharing a glance, she and Gray came to a silent agreement that they should take the middle seats. Natsu and Gajeel did love each other like family, but it was a rough kind of love prone to expressing itself through fighting.

As the two of them sat down with Gajeel on Juvia's left and Natsu on Gray's right, Gray leaned over and quietly asked her, "Looking forward to playing referee for these two all night?"

She tried to stifle her giggle behind her hand before replying, "Hopefully keeping them separated will make that less necessary." At least it seemed like he'd put their Wednesday morning encounter behind him - him treating her normally made it easier for her to do the same.

Gray shrugged. "Maybe. But I'll also have to resist the urge to throttle this guy." He indicated Natsu with his thumb, and she giggled again.

"Juvia will just have to try to distract you from him, then."

He nodded, then asked, "Why _is_ Wendy in a play, anyway? I thought she was going for pre-med."

"She is," Juvia confirmed. "But Wendy needed to take some kind of artistic class for a graduation requirement, and she thought theater would be better than trying to draw or paint. She ended up doing well enough to be cast in the class's production, so…"

"Got it." Gray smiled. "She was so shy when I first met her that it's kind of surprising to think of her getting up on a stage and performing."

"How long has Gray known Wendy?" she asked, curious. "Gajeel didn't reconnect with her until he got out of the system and started looking for his family."

"It's been what, about seven years now? She was just starting high school when she came into Gramps' care."

"Gramps?" she asked, puzzled. She thought that Gray's grandparents had died some time ago.

Gray looked a little sheepish. "Sorry, I forgot you wouldn't know who that is. Makarov Dreyar ended up fostering a couple of my friends from when I was younger, but was too old even then to really seem like their dad, so the whole group of us ended up calling him stuff like 'Gramps'."

She nodded, then the lights in the theater started lowering, indicating that the play was about to start. Juvia tried to turn her attention to the stage, but it was hard to focus when Natsu asked Gray in loud whisper if he thought this meant Wendy would be on soon and Gray tried to shush him.

The play was a simple one, with a young man trying to win the heart of the girl he liked, while a good fairy tried to help him and an evil fairy tried to thwart him. Wendy had the role of the good fairy, and she seemed well suited to it with her kind, cheerful demeanor. Gray kept having to tell Natsu to quiet down, though, since he kept trying to shout encouragement to Wendy. Juvia had her own hands full trying to keep Gajeel from reaching over her and Gray to try to strangle Natsu for 'making it hard to hear the fucking play'.

The first half of the play may have ended with the girl thinking the young man was dead, but she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that maybe Gajeel and Natsu would calm down now.

Natsu stood up and said, "I'm going to go see if they'll let me in the back long enough to say hi to Wendy."

Gajeel rolled his eyes with a groan as Natsu took off but stood up as well. "I'm gonna go make sure that idiot doesn't get himself in trouble."

Once they were both out of earshot, Gray turned to her and said, "See what I meant about playing referee?"

She groaned and nodded. "Juvia had forgotten how bad they get around each other. Also, usually Levy is around to help keep Gajeel out of trouble."

"Try going to a bar with them," he said dryly.

She winced a little. Shaking off the unpleasant mental images that idea brought up, she found a smile as she thought back to the performance itself. "Wendy makes a very nice fairy, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, the role definitely suits her."

They sat together quietly for a short time after that. The silence between them didn't feel uncomfortable, exactly, but she started to get a little bored since there wasn't anything interesting going on around them, either. Turning to her companion, she asked, "How would Gray like to see the play end? Juvia hopes that the young man reunites with his beloved and they get married in the end."

"That seems pretty likely to happen," he replied. "This doesn't seem like the kind of play that will end in tragedy."

She shook her head gently. "That's not what Juvia was asking, though. She wants to know what you _want_ to happen, not what you think will happen. Juvia always wants things to end happily, because she believes in true love, even when life tries to make it hard to believe in such things. What about you?"

Juvia had half-expected Gray to roll his eyes at her - he didn't seem like the type to believe in sappy things like that - but his expression turned serious and his eyes grew distant. "I believe in it, it's just… Stories don't like to talk about what happens when you lose someone that important to you, at least not happy ones."

She frowned a little. It almost sounded like Gray was talking from personal experience. Had he been in love with someone in past, only to lose her…? Or perhaps… Before she could decide how to ask him about it, or even if she should ask anything at all, Natsu and Gajeel returned from their little expedition, lightly shoving each other as they approached. Irritated, Gray pulled Natsu down into the seat next to him, ordering the pink haired man to be quiet and behave.

Turning to Gajeel, she asked, "Did you and Natsu get to see Wendy?"

Gajeel nodded. "But only for a few minutes until that fool," here he glared at Natsu, "got us thrown out."

Glaring back, Natsu started shouting, "Hey, you-!"

"What did I say about being quiet, flamebrain?!"

All three of them started to bicker, only quieting down when the lights dimmed for the second half of the play. Despite the occasional outbursts from her companions, Juvia managed to enjoy it. The young man was able to trap the evil fairy with the help of the good one, and without her interference was finally able to successfully confess his love to the girl and get married. The ending may have been predicable, but it still moved her to tears of joy, much to both Gajeel's and Gray's dismay, since neither of them liked dealing with crying women.

Once the lights were turned up again, the four of them left the the theater to wait for Wendy to get out of costume and emerge from back stage. Other little clusters of friends and relatives of the actors waited in the lobby along with them. When Wendy arrived, both Juvia and Natsu waved excitedly at her, catching her attention and making her head their way.

Even in her junior year in college, Wendy was on the small and slight side, and could easily pass as still being in high school. Smiling widely at them, she said, "Thank you all for coming to watch me!"

"How could your favorite cousin miss your first appearance on stage?" Natsu asked rhetorically, grinning as he hugged Wendy.

"Even if _you'd_ missed it, her favorite cousin would've still been there," Gajeel cut in with a grumpy expression.

Letting go of Wendy, Natsu turned to glare at Gajeel. "That couldn't happen since _I'm_ her favorite cousin."

Gajeel snorted at that. "Everyone knows that _I'm_ her favorite cousin!"

The two them started getting up in each others' faces and arguing after that, ignoring Wendy's attempts to get them to calm down completely. Getting irritated with how loud they were being, and moved by seeing Wendy close to tears, Juvia marched up to them and grabbed both of them by their ears. Pulling hard enough to hurt, though not enough to cause damage, she brought them down to her level. Glaring, she told them sternly, "Gajeel is Wendy's favorite cousin on her father's side. Natsu is Wendy's favorite cousin on her mother's side. Thus, you are _both_ her favorite cousins, and you will stop ruining Wendy's night and _behave yourselves_. Is Juvia clear?"

After receiving a pair of fervent nods, she let go, watching with a satisfied smile as they apologized to Wendy. Sidling up to her, Gray commented, "That was pretty impressive. Usually only someone like Erza can cow them so throughly."

"Juvia's temper got the better of her," she said a little ruefully. "This Erza sounds like an interesting person, though."

Gray nodded. "Maybe you'll meet her sometime. My friends have been kinda curious about you, actually."

She looked up at him. "Oh?"

"Well, it's not everyday when one of us gets a new family member," he told her with a shrug.

"Juvia sees. Her friends have been curious about Gray as well."

He gave her a crooked smile. "Then I guess once I've met yours and you've met mine, we can decide which set is crazier. Though I'll warn you now, when it comes to crazy my friends are tough to beat."

She smiled back at him. "Hmmm, Juvia doesn't know, her friends can get pretty crazy sometimes, too."

Chuckling, the two of them moved to join the cousins. After spending some time chatting with Wendy, Juvia started yawning, and Gajeel insisted it was time for him to take her home.

While Gajeel drove her back to the house, Juvia thought back over her evening and smiled. Gray seemed to be relaxing around her some over time. It would be nice if they could become good friends. Though… Her memories of him clad in only a small towel, water dripping from his hair and running down the chiseled planes of his body flashed through her mind again. Why did he have to be so unfairly attractive?!

As if divining the direction of her thoughts, Gajeel spoke up, asking, "How're you and the stripper getting along?"

"Ah, he's fine… Juvia means she's fine- no, wait, she means that things are fine…!" Ugh, that came out so wrong.

Gajeel glanced at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road. "He ain't hassling you or anything?"

"No, no, he's been a perfect gentleman!" Well, letting her see him in nothing but a towel wasn't exactly gentlemanly, but it wasn't like he'd done it on purpose…!

He snorted. "I doubt that. Just- Let me know if he does something that bothers you, okay?"

She nodded. "Juvia will let Gajeel know if he does anything amiss."

"Good." With a firm nod, Gajeel drove her the rest of the way home.


	8. Chapter 8

Gray arrived at his dad's house around 10 AM on Thanksgiving. It was one of two holidays his dad insisted he be present for - the other was Christmas - and he'd never missed it, not when things between him and his dad were at their worst, nor when he'd gone to college in a city hours away for grad school. He knocked on the door to let his dad know he was there, then let himself in.

Not spotting his dad or Juvia in the living room after he entered the house, he decided to check the kitchen. That's where he found them, his dad looking up from what he was working on to greet him with a smile. "Hi, son! It'll be great to have another set of helping hands." Juvia, too, smiled at him as she gave him her own, more quiet greeting.

He quickly joined the other two in preparing the feast they would be indulging in later. Gray, who's culinary skills were a bit sketchy, was mostly relegated to doing things like peeling and cutting things up. Silver was more used to cooking, and appeared to have been the one to decide on what they were going to have. But Juvia was the one who seemed to have real skill in the kitchen, moving confidently as she worked on mixing dough and rolling out biscuits and pie crusts.

"You're good at this," Gray commented as he took a moment to watch her work. "Where'd you learn to cook?"

Looking up from the pie crust she was making, she gave him a small smile. "Juvia wanted to learn when she was younger, but she didn't really have a chance to at the orphanage. So once she was out on her own and could afford it, she bought some cookbooks and taught herself. Also, well," here she turned back to what she was doing, her cheeks going a little pink, "Juvia'd heard that the way to a man's heart is through their stomach, and she thought it wouldn't hurt to try…"

She was kind of cute when she was bashful like that, but something else stood out in Gray's mind as well. "Speaking of affording things… How _did_ you pay for college? I mean, that's not always easy for people who…" He couldn't think of a good way to finish that question but Juvia got what he meant anyway.

Her face clouded over a bit and she sighed. "Juvia managed to get a few small scholarships and other financial aid, and she also took out some loans. Her uncle helped her out some as well."

Gray frowned, puzzled. "Your uncle? But, if you had relatives, then why…"

"Why did Juvia end up in an orphanage?" she finished the question for him. "When Juvia's parents died, he wasn't willing to take her in, and her grandparents had already passed, so…" She shrugged. "Juvia… Her uncle is her mother's younger brother, so she thinks he just wasn't ready to take care of a child. He contacted her shortly after she turned sixteen - he'd moved to a different city by then and started his own family, so it didn't really make sense for her to try to live with him, but he said he'd do his best to help her get her life started."

Though she'd tried to say this all as nonchalantly as possible, as if it didn't really matter that much, he noticed a tightness to her features that gave the lie to her apparent composure. "Juvia…" he murmured, and he saw his dad giving her a sympathetic look out of the corner of his eye.

Trying to assuage their concerns, she told them, "It's okay, that's in the past, and Juvia is very happy in the present, since she has wonderful friends, and gets to be here with the two of you. And she still keeps in touch with her uncle and cousins, talks to them on major holidays and all that. Speaking of which, Juvia should call them…" Wiping off her hands, she pulled out her phone and headed into the living room for some privacy while she did that.

Gray frowned at where she had just left for a couple of minutes, then turned towards his dad. "I probably shouldn't have asked about that," he admitted.

His dad shrugged. "We all have our sore spots, and sometimes it's hard to predict where they are. But I doubt she'll hold it against you, anymore than you held it against her when she did the same thing." Gray shifted as his dad gave him a significant look. "It'll blow over as long as you don't bring it back up when she gets back."

Juvia went right back to work when she returned several minutes later, and they all worked together quietly for a time before his dad broke the silence with a silly joke that made Juvia roll her eyes but stifle a giggle.

Through their combined efforts, all of the planned dishes got prepared and cooked. By the time they sat down to eat around 2 PM, the table was laden with a plump roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce (Juvia had made a face when she saw the ingredients for it - apparently she doesn't like cranberries much), sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and biscuits. A pumpkin pie and an apple pie were baking in the oven for desert.

After they gave silent thanks for what they had been given that year (Gray couldn't help wondering if Juvia was thankful for the child growing inside her, or…) it was quiet around the table as the three of them dug in. Eventually, his dad smiled and declared, "This is far more excellent than what we've had in the past, and it's all thanks to your able assistance, my dear."

Gray nodded, unable to dispute the point. "It's all really good."

Blushing, she looked down at her plate, twisting her fork in her fingers. "Thank you. Juvia's glad that you're both enjoying it."

After that, their eating slowed as the three of them talked more, not that they were enjoying the food any less. Somehow, Juvia's presence made the whole event feel lighter and warmer than it had been in years past, with just him and his dad together. The comfortable homeliness of the scene almost made him feel like the three of them were actually a family.

Well… that should be the four of them, shouldn't it? While Gray had noticed that Juvia's waist was growing thicker over time, her pregnancy still wasn't that visible yet, and that allowed him to push the fact that she was carrying his child to the back of his mind much of the time. Perhaps it was because he associated this holiday with family, but today that knowledge kept insistently popping to the forefront of his thoughts when he looked at her. By this time next year, their child would already be a few months old. He wondered what it was going to be like, having a small child around for Thanksgiving and Christmas, watching them grow year by year…

After they had eaten their fill and the leftovers had been put away for later, the three of them migrated over to the living room to watch television. There was a football game on, and while Gray preferred hockey, it was still probably the most interesting thing on. He and his dad ended up getting into the game, while Juvia had fetched some kind of sewing project from her room to work on while she sat on the couch next to them. During the game, Gray occasionally glanced over at what Juvia was working on, wondering what exactly it was. From the whimsical designs on the fabric, he thought it was probably something for the baby.

Once the game had finished, Silver got up to use the bathroom. Sticking her needle in the cloth so she wouldn't lose it, Juvia turned to Gray and asked, "Is this how you and Father usually spend Thanksgiving?"

Nodding, he replied, "Pretty much." Hoping he wasn't about to step on another conversational landmine, he asked, "What about you?"

"Juvia usually invites some friends over to have a nice dinner together," she answered with a smile.

"Huh. Were they disappointed that you aren't doing that this year?"

She shook her head. "Gajeel is visiting Levy's parents with her this year, Lisanna will be spending the day with her siblings, and Cana's relationship with her father Gildarts is doing better so she's eating dinner with him, and Meredy's tagging along with her. So Juvia can happily spend the day here."

"That's good to know." Wait a sec… "Hey, that wouldn't happen to be Gildarts Clive's daughter you were talking about right now, would it?"

Juvia nodded. "How does Gray know Cana's father?"

"He's a friend of Gramps, used to be in and out his place a lot when we were kids," he explained. They'd all kind of looked up to him, Natsu especially. "It's kind of funny that we know a lot of people who know each other, isn't it?" he asked her with an amused smile.

She smiled back. "Yes, it is. Juvia's surprised that she never met Gray before, well…" His smile dimmed for a moment as he couldn't help thinking about that fact that they _had_ met before she'd gotten pregnant, that that was the reason why she was pregnant in the first place…

Looking away, he scratched at the back of his head. "I guess things never lined up right." Looking back at her, he said, "Hey, speaking of meeting people, would you like to come with me for lunch on Saturday and meet some of my friends?"

Her brows knitted together as she replied, "Um, well, Juvia isn't sure about meeting many people she doesn't know at once like that…"

"Levy'll be there, you know her, and I think she's bringing Gajeel, too," he reassured her. "You know Natsu, too, and you've probably at least met Lucy before, right?" She slowly nodded. "So see, it won't be that bad, 'sides, they're a friendly bunch, well, most of them…"

She slowly nodded. "Alright, Juvia will go then. She can always leave early if it gets to be too much."

He grinned at her. "That's the spirit. Like I've said before, they've been pretty curious about you, so hopefully this'll get them off my back about it. I promise not to let them ask too many prying questions, though."

Smiling back, she replied, "Juvia is quite grateful for that."

That was when his dad returned, and the subject changed to other things. He hung around for a couple more hours before heading home, promising to text Juvia the details of their Saturday outing later. As he stepped out into the cold and clear November night, he looked up at the stars and smiled. Despite the occasional bit of rockiness and his own musings about what the future might hold, that had been the most enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner he'd had in a while.


	9. Chapter 9

Juvia was nervous as she pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant Gray had told her to meet him and his friends at. Meeting new people was never an easy thing for her, even knowing that there would be several people there that she already knew, at least in passing. And dealing with the extra traffic that the start of the Christmas shopping season brought hadn't helped her nerves any.

She did smile a little when she spotted Gray waiting outside for her. Parking in the spot next to his car, she got out of the car and greeted him. "Hello, Gray."

"Hey," he replied. "Ready to join the madness?" Not really waiting for her to respond, he lead the way into the restaurant and over to a large table. She immediately spotted Levy and Gajeel among those seated, and gave them a little wave. "Hey, guys," Gray said as they reached the table. "This is Juvia, my…" He seemed to struggle with what to say for a moment before deciding on, "My dad's adopting her."

Turning more towards her, he said, "You know who Gajeel and Levy are already."

Juvia nodded, and Gajeel said, "Hi, Blue. Stripper."

Gray rolled his eyes a little at the nickname, while Levy politely told her, "It's good to see you again, Juvia."

Pointing to where Natsu was sitting across from Gajeel with a busty blonde next to him, Gray continued, "You know Natsu as well, and that's Lucy next to him."

"Yo," Natsu said, giving her a casual wave of his hand in acknowledgment.

"It's nice to meet you a bit more properly, Juvia," Lucy told her with a smile.

"Yes, it is," she agreed.

The next person around the table was a fairly tall, well-dressed woman with amazingly long and beautiful red hair, and next to her was an equally well-dressed man with blue hair and an odd red facial tattoo. "This is Erza and Jellal Fernandes," Gray introduced them.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Erza told her, standing from her chair to lean across the table and offer Juvia her hand. Juvia took it after a moment's hesitation, finding Erza's grip to be very firm. She had a feeling this woman was a force to be reckoned with.

"Yes, a pleasure," Juvia replied after Erza had released her from the handshake.

A simpler, "Nice to meet you," was Jellal's greeting, which she returned. He seemed quieter than his wife, but there must be more to him than that if he could keep up with someone like Erza.

At the end of the table a demurely dressed pink-haired woman sat across from an orange-haired man wearing sunglasses and a suit. "And these two are Aries Shepherd and Loke Aster," Gray told her, finishing off the introductions.

"H-hello," Aries greeted with a nervous smile.

Giving her a reassuring smile back, Juvia said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you."

With a sly smile, Loke told her, "Gray didn't do justice to your beauty when he told us about you."

Taken aback, Juvia could feel herself blushing a little as she replied, "Um, thanks?" She thought that he and Aries were a couple, but maybe not…

"But even beauty as great as yours could never sway my heart from my love," he continued, his expression turning softer as he looked towards Aries.

"Loke…" Aries groaned, hiding her blushing face behind her hands. Ah, so they _were_ together, Loke was just a flirt.

Juvia took the seat to Gajeel's right, which was also across from Erza, while Gray sat to her right next to Loke. She listened to the conversation around the table with half an ear while she perused the menu. By the time the waitress arrived to take their orders, she'd settled on chicken in a mushroom sauce with broccoli and wild rice.

Once their orders had been placed, Erza turned to Juvia and asked, "Is your pregnancy going well?"

She was a little surprised at being brought into the conversation, having been content to watch and listen to Gray's friends interact, but replied, "It seems to be, though Juvia has little to compare it to. She's feeling better than she did in the first few months, at least."

"Yeah, I remember how much of a pain that time was," Lucy commented. "Enjoy this time before you start swelling up like a balloon."

Oh, that was right, Natsu and his wife had had a son recently, hadn't they? "When was Kenneth born again?" Juvia asked.

"July twelfth," Lucy answered with a fond smile. "So he's only four months old." Something seemed to occur to her then. "Oh! You know, I still have all of my maternity clothes, and I think you're about the same size as me. Maybe you could come over sometime and see if there's any you'd like to borrow?"

"That's very generous of you, Lucy," Juvia told her earnestly.

"Well, you're practically Gajeel's sister and will be Gray's sister soon, so you're part of the group already," Lucy stated simply. Juvia had felt Gray stiffen beside her momentarily when Lucy had made the remark about her being his sister. Frowning a little, she glanced at Gray out of the corner of her eye. She'd thought that he was getting more comfortable with the idea of her joining his family, but…

"I'm a little jealous of you," Erza told her, expression serious. "I really want to be a mother someday, but Jellal and I have decided to wait until our careers are more established before having children."

"Oh. Um, what do you two do for a living, if you don't mind Juvia asking?"

"Not at all," Erza replied. "I am a prosecutor, and Jellal is a public defender."

Juvia blinked at that. "Um, that's…"

"I know it can seem a little strange," Jellal told her gently. "But we both understand that those who have been accused of crimes should be given the justice that they deserve, whether that turns out to be punishment or exoneration. We may be on opposite sides of the courtroom, but we're both needed for the system to function as it should."

"And we recuse ourselves from cases that the other is involved in, of course," Erza added.

"Juvia sees," she said with a small smile. "That sounds very noble of you both."

The conversation moved on from there, but from that point on Juvia was included in it more often than she had been at first. She soon found herself warming up to those in the group she hadn't really known before. Erza seemed strict but caring (and her firm hand was kind of necessary with Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray in the group), Jellal had more of a quiet strength and intelligence to him, Lucy was cheerful and generous, Aries was shy but sweet, and Loke seemed flirty but good hearted.

Eventually Juvia became the focus of everyone's attention again when Lucy asked, "How are you and Gray getting along? I know he can be kinda intimidating when you first met him, but really, once you get to know him you discover that he's actually not as much of an ice king as he pretends to be."

Gray looked a bit miffed at that description of him, while she smiled and answered, "Juvia must admit that things were somewhat awkward at first, but things have improved as she and Gray have gotten to know each other better. She thinks of Gray as a friend now, and hopes he feels the same."

Gray stopped giving Lucy an annoyed look to turn to her and give her a small smile. "Yeah, we are."

Erza looked between the two of them. "So, are you looking forward to being brother and sister, then?"

Juvia's expression faltered at that question. "Um, well…"

She was saved from having to continue her statement when Natsu interjected, "Oh, hey, has Gray lost his clothes around you yet? You can't say you really know him until he has!"

Juvia blushed and looked down, unable to keep from remembering just how much of Gray she ended up seeing. Gray glared at Natsu, while Loke leaned in closer, an amused smirk on his lips. "So he did, huh? How much of a view did he give you?"

Blushing harder, she felt tongue tied, so simply shook her head. Gray gave Loke an accusatory look, which he ignored to remark, "I bet you wouldn't mind seeing more of Juvia if she gave you the chance."

Gray's frown deepened, but before he could say anything, Gajeel called from the other end of the table, "Oi, he'd better not see any more than Juvia wants him to see! It's bad enough that he already showed her more than she needed to see!"

Juvia sighed at her friend's reaction. "It wasn't such an unpleasant sight…" she muttered, but apparently she'd been louder than she'd intended because the others turned towards her, eyebrows raised.

"So you didn't mind getting to see that much of Gray?" Lucy asked, her curiosity evident on her face.

Her blush returning to full intensity again, Juvia replied, "It was an embarrassing incident! But, well, Gray isn't a bad looking guy, so…"

It seemed like they were going to ask more about it, but then Gray put a hand on her shoulder and glared at his friends. "Enough, guys. Can't you see you're making her uncomfortable?"

After a moment, some slightly sheepish apologies were given and the subject was dropped. Juvia gave Gray a grateful smile. After a little bit more conversation, she checked the time on her phone to discover over two hours had gone by already. Getting up, she said, "It's been fun, but Juvia should be heading home."

Goodbyes were said - Juvia was a bit surprised but happy to receive hugs from Lucy and Erza - and she exchanged numbers with Lucy so they could arrange a time for Juvia to visit her and go through Lucy's old maternity clothes. Gray walked with her to her car. "Sorry about the prying questions," he told her before she got in.

She shrugged. "It's okay, Juvia knows they didn't mean ill by it." She smiled a little then. "Her friends will probably be just as bad when you meet them."

"Joy," Gray deadpanned. "What did you think of them otherwise?"

"Well, they're definitely a bit unique, but Gray was right about them being friendly. Juvia likes them."

He smiled. "Well, that's good, since the more time you spend around me the more you'll run into them."

After he finished seeing Juvia off, Gray turned to go back into the restaurant, only to be brought up short when he noticed Loke hanging around the entrance, watching him. Once he reached him, Loke asked, "So, about you and Juvia…"

"What about me and Juvia?" Gray asked, not sure what Loke was trying to get at.

"Is there something going on there?"

Raising an eyebrow at his friend, he asked, "What makes you think there would be?"

Rolling his eyes, Loke said, "C'mon, I know how to tell when a woman's interested in someone."

"If you can tell that, then why'd you keep chasing Lucy?" Gray replied, a little exasperated with this line of questioning.

"Because Lucy _was_ interested in me," he told Gray calmly. "She was just interested in Natsu _more_."

Changing tacks, Gray remarked, "Just because she doesn't think I'm unpleasant to look at doesn't mean she's actually interested in me."

Still seeming unruffled, Loke replied, "It's hardly just that. Juvia wasn't being obvious about it, but some of the looks she gave you over lunch definitely weren't sisterly. And I know the signs for when _you_ find someone attractive."

Gray sighed. Little did Loke know that there was definitive evidence of just how attractive he and Juvia found each other. "Yeah, she's good-looking, and she's likable, too. But you know I don't do dating, and even if I did bringing that into things would just make a messy situation even more complicated. So whatever potential interest we have for each other doesn't matter - nothing's going to happen."

Loke studied him for a long moment. "Are you sure you're okay with that? I mean, you can't even seem to call her your sister."

He grimaced a little. He just couldn't come to grips with applying the labels of 'sister' and 'mother of my child' to the same woman. "I think it's still better than the alternative."

Slowly nodding, Loke replied, "I hope neither of you get hurt because of it, then. Feelings have a way of doing what they want to do, rather than what we think they should do."

"I hope so, too."


End file.
